Brian Schottenheimer says he’s ‘ready’ to coach Cowboys after long career as NFL assistant

Brian Schottenheimer carried a card in his wallet when he was still in college, inscribed with his goal at the time.

Become the youngest head coach in the NFL.

Didn’t quite work out that way for the son of the late coach Marty Schottenheimer, in part because he said it wasn’t too many years later when the younger Schottenheimer thought maybe he wasn’t ready.

The 51-year-old Schottenheimer says he is now, and the Dallas Cowboys promoted him from offensive coordinator to be the 10th coach in the storied franchise’s history.

“I thought for a while it might not happen, but it’s been a lifelong dream,” Schottenheimer said at his introductory news conference Monday, with his family and Marty Schottenheimer’s widow, Pat, watching along with franchise quarterback Dak Prescott and several teammates.

“That notecard was in my wallet at an early age, and it’s been a long time coming, but it’s here,” the younger Schottenheimer said.

He was quick to address the skeptics who questioned the hiring of a coach considered a career assistant, a suggestion even dropped by owner Jerry Jones when he announced the decision last week.

Schottenheimer broached the touchy subject even before taking a moment to recognize his father, who was 200-126-1 in 21 seasons as a head coach with stops in Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and San Diego. The elder Schottenheimer died four years ago at age 77.

“I’ve had some opportunities when I was a much younger man, that I didn’t feel like I was ready,” Brian Schottenheimer said. “I’m ready now. I know what I want. I know what it looks like.”

The Cowboys promoted him less than two weeks after parting ways with Mike McCarthy, who brought Schottenheimer in as a consultant in 2022 and was on an expiring contract after a 7-10 season. Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator the past two seasons with McCarthy calling plays.

The Dallas front office was in discussions to keep McCarthy before both sides decided to move on. Executive vice president of personnel Stephen Jones said Schottenheimer would have left the staff had McCarthy stayed because he wanted to pursue play-calling opportunities.

Talk of Schottenheimer staying and calling plays morphed into conversations about him being head coach. He plans to call plays, too.

Schottenheimer was an assistant with the St. Louis Rams, Kansas City, Washington, the San Diego Chargers and Jacksonville along with three one-year stops in college. His 14 years as an offensive coordinator include six with the Jets, three with the Rams and Seahawks and two with the Cowboys.

“How often do you have someone that has 25 … years of working through the human relationship and working, aspiring to learn or have his ears and eyes wide open and looking for techniques and looking for things that make coaches better,” Jerry Jones said. “He’s had 25 years being around the kinds of things that he’s going to have to draw on to be a coach of the Dallas Cowboys.”

Schottenheimer said his first chance to consider head coaching came during his first stint as an NFL play-caller, from 2006-11 with the New York Jets.

He said he had “pause,” and a three-year run as Pete Carroll’s offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks almost a decade later played a big role in him believing he could be a head coach, in part from the challenges Carroll presented him.

Jones spent more than 10 minutes answering the first question of the news conference, defending the hire and bristling over the suggestion that it was a conversative move by picking a coach on the existing staff.

“Without this thing being about me in any way, if you don’t think I can’t operate out of my comfort zone, you’re so wrong,” Jones said. “It’s unbelievable. This is as big a risk as you can take, as big a risk as you could take. No head coaching experience.”

Schottenheimer is the 10th coach in franchise history, and the ninth hired by Jones since be bought the team in 1989 and fired the only coach from Dallas’ first 29 seasons, Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Landry.

It’s the seventh coach since the last time the Cowboys reached an NFC championship game, on the way to their fifth Super Bowl title in 1995. It’s the longest drought in the NFC without reaching the conference title game.

The Cowboys went to the playoffs three consecutive years with 12-5 records under McCarthy but were 1-3 in the postseason. Asked how things would be different, Schottenheimer spoke extensively about building relationships.

“This business has never been about X’s and O’s,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s about people.”

And the Cowboys believe they found the right person, even if McCarthy was the one who brought him here. McCarthy’s NFL coaching career started under Marty Schottenheimer in 1993.

“Would he do things different, is he going to do things different than Mike? Absolutely,” Stephen Jones said. “I think we’ve got a great plan on defense. I think we’ve got a great plan on special teams. We’re putting that all together. That has to come together as a staff, and certainly Schotty leads that.”

Perhaps the biggest thing working Schottenheimer’s favor was the relationship he built the past two years with Prescott, who is about to start the $260 million, four-year contract he signed in 2024. It’s the first NFL contract with an average annual value of $60 million.

“Dak’s not making any coaching decisions, nor does he want to,” Stephen Jones said. “But, I can tell you, every team who made a coaching decision was looking at how they solve for their quarterback. That’s how you win in this league.”

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